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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of California has filed a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) demanding an immediate halt to what it describes as unlawful immigration raids across the Los Angeles area targeting migrants with “brown skin.”
The non-profit accuses Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of carrying out unconstitutional raids and then keeping migrants in inhumane conditions without beds and deprived of food and legal counsel. Homeland Security has denied all the claims in the lawsuit, saying that any accusations of racial profiling are “disgusting and categorically false.”
ICE has carried out sweeping raids since June 6, arresting around 1,500 immigrants, including Latino day laborers, car wash workers, farmworkers and vendors – all in a bid to meet certain arrest quotas, the habeas petition states.
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“The raids in this district follow a common, systematic pattern. Individuals with brown skin are approached or pulled aside by unidentified federal agents, suddenly and with a show of force and made to answer questions about who they are and where they are from,” the lawsuit reads.
“If they hesitate, attempt to leave, or do not answer the questions to the satisfaction of the agents, they are detained, sometimes tackled, handcuffed, and/or taken into custody. In these interactions, agents typically have no prior information about the individual and no warrant of any kind.”
The lawsuit accuses the federal government of keeping detainees at an overcrowded holding facility, referred to as “B-18,” inside windowless rooms that are extremely cramped.
“In these dungeon-like facilities, conditions are deplorable and unconstitutional,” the lawsuit reads.
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As well as seeking to block the raids, the suit demands that ICE refrain from using the B-18 center, as it is supposed to be a short-term ICE processing site, and that the federal government be held legally accountable for systemic racial profiling and due process violations.
The defendants include Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, Attorney General Pam Bondi and multiple regional ICE, CBP, and FBI officials operating in Los Angeles.
The lawsuit was filed by a coalition of individual immigrants and immigrant advocacy organizations, led by the ACLU and the non-profit Public Counsel as well as other legal partners.
Los Angeles has become a battleground in resisting President Donald Trump’s election promise of carrying out the largest deportation raids in U.S. history. Protests in the City of Angels last month descended into riots as masked agitators burned driverless cars, damaged other property and threw rocks at moving law enforcement vehicles.
The lawsuit comes as an estimated 150 to 200 anti-ICE protesters shut down the Sixth Street Bridge in Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon. The bridge links downtown Los Angeles and Boyle Heights early.
The protesters carried signs with messages reading: “Sick of ICE!” and “Eviction moratorium now!” while others chanted “ICE out of L.A.”
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“This bridge has been the entry to Boyle Heights to kidnap community members and take them who knows where,” organizer Christian Alcaraz told Fox 11.
The protest was one of several rallies in the county on Tuesday as part of a day of action against immigration raids. In Koreatown, another rally was held.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin refuted the claims made in the lawsuit.
“Any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically false,” she told Fox 11 via a statement on Wednesday, adding that the lawsuit’s claims were “garbage.”
She also denied the claims about poor conditions at ICE facilities.
“Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE detention centers are false,” McLaughlin said. “In fact, ICE has higher detention standards than most US prisons that hold actual US citizens. All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members.”
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